In his roughly 30 months on the job, Dr. George Heitsch has overseen a Farmington Public Schools district administration that has faced union negotiations, made dramatic budget cuts, closed buildings and gotten a bond passed by voters.

This week Heitsch, the district's superintendent, found out he's going to be around another couple of years to finish the work he's started.

The district's Board of Education voted 6-0 Tuesday — board vice president Terry Johnson was absent — to extend Heitsch's contract, which had been scheduled to end June 30, by one year, with an option for a second year. If the option year is picked up, Heitsch, whose contract pays him $180,000 a year, will be superintendent through at least the 2018-2019 school year.

In his two years, Heitsch has helped the district wrestle with a dwindling budget, took more than 18 months to come up with a contract with the teachers and closed schools — including the closing and repurposing of Dunckel Middle School into a STEAM School and the closing of Harrison High School.

Heitsch said there's more to be done.

"This is a mutual decision," Heitsch told board members. "I think it's up to us to finish the work we've started, and that's going to take another year, maybe two."

The extension covers July 1, 2017, through June 30, 2018. If the board picks up the option for the second year, it would carry Heitsch through June 30, 2019.

At that point, both sides will take a look at a lengthier contract. Board Secretary David Turner said he would "be recommending a five-year contract," to which Heitsch smiled and chuckled.

"I feel really good about the work we've done to this point. But it's been a tough two-and-a-half years," Heitsch said. "It's for all of us at that point to make a decision if I've got enough juice left to keep going for an extended period of time, or whether it would be appropriate for us to start looking at a different phase of leadership."